Monday, October 05, 2009

Poem for Monday

Andy, Alone in the CityBy Wayne Miller

First a church,then an awning,then a doglicking a stainfrom a cobblestone,windows throughwhich strangersobliquely mirrorthe recognizable,an empty fountainfull of dry leaves,a corner — motorcyclefiring itself away —,steps to a hospital(or a school), a beautifulwoman descendingalong an iron rail,a sidewalk café— chairspressed to the wallas if by the wind —,a word he knowsfrom the mouthof an old woman,or her son, an icecream cart, a sewersmell rising like water,a hawker hawkingfor a strip club, a hostel,or a day spa, a cigarettetossed deliberatelyfrom a balcony,a yellow wallcatching the light —taking his breath —,a butcher sawingthrough slabsof bone, a kidwith a busted liprushing past,knocking Andy down,so he must riseand check his handsfor grit, one by onegather up hisscattered belongings —

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My family spent all day Sunday at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire with Dementordelta, which was fantastic as always, and the weather was magnificent, more than justifying our decision not to go last weekend in the rain. We knew we would go this weekend even if rain was forecast because this was the last week both comedians Don Juan & Miguel and acrobats Barely Balanced would be there, and we love them -- so we saw both shows by each, plus sword swallower Damian Blade, several street performers and musicians, and the afternoon joust, which featured the best stunt riding I have ever seen. We got back quite late for a school night so here are a few photos with more details to come:

Here I am outside the pirate ship that is also an armory at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire.

It was Pirate Invasion Weekend, so there were many, many buccaneers wandering around as well as this Jack Sparrow working on the ship.

Casey (Small), Cameron (Medium), and Dreagn (Large) juggle knives in an insane position at the early Barely Balanced show.

Dreagn is also a musician -- here he is performing as half of the Dandy Pirates.

Don Juan, Miguel, and Don Juan's daughter Esmerelda do tricks with whips and swords while telling jokes -- lots of "arrrrr" jokes this weekend in keeping with the theme.

We only saw the early joust since the later one was at the same time as Don Juan & Miguel's Weird Show, so we missed the fireworks, but the champions and challengers performed some amazing feats on horseback.

A mermaid enjoyed the beautiful weather on land.

My kids enjoyed the beautiful weather and the performances too. Here they are waiting for Damian Blade...

...who juggled with a sword down his throat.

My review of The Lost Symbol has been posted at The Green Man Review -- there are no spoilers for the conclusion but if you don't like to know anything about a book before you read it, then you should not click that link. We missed all the sports action for the weekend, were sorry to learn that the Ravens lost, bemused that the Redskins won, and sorry that it had to be Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees to set that single-inning RBI record!